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Is this Leo Messi's last chance to join greats?

Alan Hansen

Lionel Messi must dominate the World Cup final to take his place among the all-time greats. Photo: Getty Images

Lionel Messi has arguably his final chance to make history in Sunday's World Cup final and elevate himself up to the top tier alongside Pele and Diego Maradona.

Messi will represent Argentina's best hope of lifting the trophy for the first time since 1986, when the player he has been compared with for so many years, Maradona, stunned the world.

If he wants to ensure those comparisons with Maradona are justified, Messi must seize his chance on the grandest stage of all and produce a world-class performance.

At times in this tournament he has been excellent, but there have been other games where he was very rarely seen.

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He will be 31 by the time of the next World Cup and this could be his last, and best, chance to prove he deserves to be mentioned as one of the greatest ever players.

For many years there have been accusations that he has failed to reproduce his magnificent club form for his country. He has played in a sensational Barcelona team including the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and having him among those players has been the icing on the cake.

But there has always been a lingering sense that he has struggled to transfer those performances when he pulls on the Argentina jersey, playing in what is essentially a functional side.

He barely touched the ball in the Dutch penalty area in the entire 120 minutes of Wednesday's semi-final, and teams have doubled up against him, so he has struggled in the latter stages.

Yet consider those performances Maradona produced against Belgium and England in 1986, when he had opponents tight on him but would still swat them away, beat four or five players and go on to score.

Messi has struggled when teams have concentrated so much on stopping him, and it will be the same against Germany, when he will be under incredible pressure to deliver.

Sergio Aguero should start in the final and will ease some of the pressure on Messi's shoulders, but in big games – and they get no bigger than Sunday – you need your star players to turn it on.

Germany have more of a team than any standout players and will be going into this game as the favourite by some distance.

However, despite its amazing result against Brazil I still believe Germany is vulnerable and Messi can get at them. On Tuesday night it was more a case of how bad Brazil was, rather than how good Germany was.

If you take that 7-1 win out of the equation Germany has not been convincing defensively at the tournament. Against Algeria it allowed the opposition five or six good chances, playing a high line, and it could have paid a heavy price.

There were also occasions against the United States and Ghana where they played some kamikaze stuff.

But since the return of Mats Hummels it has defended deeper, and looked better for it. There are still weaknesses to be exploited, though, and there is no chance of Argentina repeating the mistakes made by Brazil. Anybody expecting another goalfest will be disappointed.

It will be a tight game and neither country will go for broke, making sure they do not get beaten early on and keeping it tight.

Germany will find it a lot harder and there is no chance it will ever experience a game again like Tuesday night.

Now that the dust has settled, you still have to look back on Brazil's capitulation with total and utter disbelief. To lose four goals in 20 minutes in a semi-final was just incredible.

We have all seen big players perform badly and defences lose their shape, but never anything like that in such an important game on home soil.

Brazil has now got to somehow pick itself up for a meaningless battle for third place and it will be interesting to see how the nation take to the players.

There will not be many volunteers to play in that one, that is for sure. If you are Luiz Felipe Scolari you would be inclined to pick a completely different team and go again, because another loss for the same players would ensure the humiliation is complete.

Germany will probably experience a game like the one between Holland and Argentina in the other semi-final.

Just do not ask me to predict a scoreline. Every time you try to make a prediction at this World Cup it turns out wrong.

There was a stinker when Argentina played Switzerland, but then Belgium versus the US turned out to be the game of the tournament. You just cannot tell.

After its destruction of Brazil you would have to consider Germany the favourite, but do not discount the Messi factor. This is his big chance and he will be desperate to take it.

The London Telegraph

22 comments so far

Surely he is up with the greats, irrespective of the perff the result on the weekend?

Commenter

Llama Farma

Location

Canberra

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 1:33PM

I'm not so sure Maradona and Pele were considered greats just because they won a WC. They were brilliant players who lit up their respective tournaments. To win the trophy was obviously a massive bonus. Messi hasn't done that. He's been subdued for most of the knockout games and Germany won't afford him any more space. If Argentina go on to win it won't be because of him.

Commenter

AN

Location

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 1:35PM

Don't recall Brazil won the world cup because of Pele. With Pele they scored more goals. Could have done it without him.

The only player ever win the world cup on its own in my opinion was Diego.

Messi will be the greatest modern player, i hope he wins.

Commenter

Gerson

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 3:20PM

Let us not forget that Maradona is a CHEAT. Hand of God my arse. You can take the boy out of the slum ...

Commenter

Neddy`

Location

NQ

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 9:12PM

Since the Germany Brazil match, there haven't been this many Germans hiding in Brazil since the end of WW2. However, considering the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, I'm sure many Brazilians will be supporting the Germans.

Commenter

Tom

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 1:49PM

The Brazilian have already supported every Argentina's opponents. They were booing Higuain while he was sub-off.

Commenter

Gerson

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 3:21PM

Ahhh yes, the Germans and WW2 there always has to be some ignorant pleb who can't help it but to mention WW2 and Germany in the same sentence.

Commenter

Markus

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 4:02PM

He is already one of the greats, 6 La Liga titles, 3 Champions League titles and a better goal to game ratio then Maradona. He is only 27.

Commenter

Lazor

Location

Date and time

July 11, 2014, 2:54PM

Messi has absolutely nothing to prove,he is already right up there as an all time great player and person.This whole need to declare the best ever is just rubbish,each era has its own.Having said that Argentina has a mighty record of producing the best,Distefano,Maradona,Messi.Enough said.